OpenAI claims breakthrough on century-old Navier-Stokes maths problem

OpenAI claims its artificial intelligence has solved the Navier-Stokes problem, one of mathematics’ biggest unsolved puzzles for nearly a century.

The ChatGPT maker said about 10,000 AI agents worked simultaneously on the Millennium Prize Problem, reaching a solution in 88 hours after an effort costing millions of dollars.

The problem asks whether equations describing how fluids such as air and water move can fail under certain conditions.

OpenAI’s proof suggests they can, with the equations occasionally “blowing up”. OpenAI said its GPT-6 Astra model took about 17 hours to verify the solution.

“A major goal of our work is to empower scientists to advance research and technology that benefits all of humanity,” OpenAI researchers wrote in a company blog.

The announcement sparked controversy after New York University mathematician Tristan Buckmaster said OpenAI accelerated its work after learning he and an Anthropic researcher were preparing their own breakthrough.

Buckmaster said their work had been stored in OpenAI’s Codex system, but stressed: “I do not know whether our data was used. I am not accusing anyone of anything.”

OpenAI denied accessing the researchers’ work, although it said it could not rule out their product usage having “helped improve our models.”

The Clay Mathematics Institute offers $1 million for solving the problem, but OpenAI said it will not claim the prize.